Rolex Fasnet Race 2019: The Ultimes are doing their thing!

This means that record for the event, held since 2011 by Banque Populaire V, has now been smashed by some 4 hours. And yet, the winners suffered damage to their daggerboard shortly after the start, by hitting a sandbank... The race was an opportunity for the first two Ultimes, Edmond de Rothschild and Macif to go head to head in an incredible match on the way back from the Fastnet lighthouse, with only 58 seconds separating the giant trimarans at the finish line. In this top category, two other competitors, Sodebo Ultim 3 and Actual Leader, came 3^rd and 4^th respectively. All of them had beaten the previous race record. To give a comparison, the first monohull, Rambler 88, crossed the finish line 1 day, 19 hours, 55 minutes and 2 seconds after crossing the startline, i.e. almost 16 hours after the arrival of the first trimaran.

The conditions for the race, which were rather virile with winds of up to 25 to 30 knots from the south-west, were of course a far cry from those of the dramatic 1979 Fastnet Race - just 40 years ago, 15 sailors were lost and no less than 139 were rescued...

In the Mocra category, the TS42 Guyader Gastronomy did well, with the route completed in 3 days 4 hours 42 mins and 9 secs.